Corals are the building-blocks of mid-ocean oases of life, and play a key role in promoting biodiversity in every ocean on Earth. A large part of the world’s total biodiversity would be degraded to an extent never experienced in human history if coral reefs were to go extinct (Veron et al. 2009). With increasing threats from global climate change, ocean-acidification, turbidity resulting from deforestation and urban development, eutrophication from agriculture runoff, overharvesting, predation, and disease,